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Physical iron ore prices stayed rangebound for a second day on Tuesday March 26 as market participants waited on news of the full impact of Cyclone Veronica on Australian iron ore operations.MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index: $85.23 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.58 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Pilbara Blend Fines Index: $84.35 per tonne cfr Qingdao, down $0.58 per tonne. MB 62% Fe Iron Ore Index-Low Alumina: $87....Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange had a mixed start to trading on Tuesday March 26 while recessionary fears subsided. The US 10-year bond yield has rebounded off the 2017 lows reached on Monday, providing global markets with some relief and allowing Asian equity indexes to trade confidently higher on the back of improved risk sentiment. In terms of volume, a total of 4,49...Read More
U.S. equity index futures were higher this morning. S&P 500 futures were up 15 points in pre-opening trade. Index futures were virtually unchanged following release of the February Housing Starts report at 8:30 AM EDT. Consensus was a slip to 1.218 million units from upwardly revised 1.270 million units in January. Actual was 1.162 million units.Bed Bath & Beyond gained $2.56 to $16.42 aft...Read More
Prices for seaborne premium hard coking coal were mostly stable on Tuesday March 26, although the emergence of a lower offer for second-tier products put some pressure on the segment.An April-loading cargo of a top Australian brand sold at a 4% premium against an index to an end user in eastern China while a shipment of premium mid-vol hard coking coal was traded at $203 per tonne cfr China, sourc...Read More
China imported 1.16 million tonnes of coking coal from Australia in February, down 25% on the year amid port restrictions that emerged at the end of January. The country imported 1.54 million tonnes of Australian coking coal in February a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data.Customs authorities in China had issued verbal directives to end users that Australian coking coal would undergo...Read More
The United States' copper market was modestly lower on Tuesday March 26 morning amid a lack of trading action and industry participants seeking fresh market catalysts. The copper price for May settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange inched down 0.30 cents to $2.8535 per lb. Copper trading has been fairly quiet over the past several weeks, with modest global growth...Read More
Arbitrage for copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel imported into China on Monday March 26*Copper -$132.83 (-893.62 yuan) Aluminium -$266.47 (-1,792.59 yuan) Zinc -$147 (-988.88 yuan) Nickel -$309.55 (-2,082.41 yuan) *Fastmarkets calculates the physical arbitrage for import into China daily by using SHFE...Read More
Zinc's three-month price on the London Metal Exchange was higher during morning trading on Tuesday March 26, with price action keeping firmly above $2,800 per tonne, while the rest of the complex consolidates lower amid dampened investor sentiment. Contributing to the slump in price action, weaker than expected manufacturing data last week from both the United States and Europe continue to indicat...Read More
Do you ever wonder why lottery winners sometimes go bankrupt, even after winning big? Why some people keep balances on their credit cards and pay high interest rates when they have savings available to pay the bill?And why it seems so hard for Americans to set aside regular savings for retirement, even though they know they should?These paradoxes can all be traced back to one concept you may have...Read More
The Battle of Britain (1940) was one of the most famous and important conflicts in history. The Battle of Brexit is proving no less decisive even if the weapons are financial and political, not kinetic.The U.K. joined the European Communities in 1973 and that membership was ratified by a U.K. referendum in 1975. Membership divided the right and left in U.K. politics in the late 1970s and 1980s wit...Read More
The U.K. Brexit referendum on whether to remain with or leave the European Union (EU) took place on June 23, 2016. The result was a clear victory for the "leave" forces. But markets were shocked. All the "experts" had predicted voters would elect to stay.I was among the few to prepare investors for that shock. In the days before the vote, I urged my readers to short the British pound and buy gold....Read More
Northwest China's non-ferrous metals producer-Baiyin Nonferrous Group will suspend one third of its zinc production lines from March 26 for a 20-day planned maintenance period, market sources told Fastmarkets MB.The company runs six, zinc operation lines and will halt two from today until the middle of April. "About 2,500 tonnes of zinc will be removed in Baiyin during March 26-31 [because of the...Read More
Three-month base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange had a mixed start to trading on Tuesday March 26 while recessionary fears subsided. The US 10-year bond yield has rebounded off the 2017 lows reached on Monday, providing global markets with some relief and allowing Asian equity indexes to trade confidently higher on the back of improved risk sentiment.In terms of volume, a total of 4,497...Read More
The high-grade manganese ore index fell on Friday March 22 after sellers re-entered the market offering at a price stable with last month; in alloys, the Chinese ferro-manganese price rose following the recent recovery in the country's silico-manganese market. 44% manganese ore index retreats after previous climbDeals for 37% material concluded at higher levelsSilico-manganese prices rise in China...Read More
Already-strong palladium prices soared to new heights in March, with spot palladium prices topping US$1,600 for the first time on March 20, and hitting an all-time record high of US$1,604 per oz. the next day before pulling back hard to US$1,532 per oz. at press time on March 26.The peak above US$1,600 capped a remarkable seven-month run for palladium, which bottomed briefly at US$842 per oz. in A...Read More
RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX; US-OTC: RNKLF) has entered an A$50 million purchase option agreement with Westgold Resources (ASX: WGX; US-OTC: WTGRF) to buy the Higginsville Gold Operation in Western Australia's Kalgoorlie region.RNC will pay A$4 million in shares for an exclusive 40-day due diligence period. If it exercises its option, the deal would close 30 days later, and RNC would pay Westgold a fur...Read More
Reverse circulation (RC) drilling to the north of the Dark Star deposit at Gold Standard Ventures' (TSX: GSV; NYSE-AM: GSV) Railroad Pinion project in Nevada's Carlin Trend has intersected thick zones of oxide gold.Drill hole DR19-15 returned 22.9 metres of 1.92 grams gold, including 13.7 metres of 3.04 grams gold, and drill hole DR19-26 intersected 16.8 metres of 2.58 grams gold. The two step-out...Read More
Norsk Hydro has agreed with Brazil's federal prosecutor to have a third-party technical assessment that, if positive, could lead to it resuming full production at the half-shut Alunorte alumina refinery, the company said on Tuesday.The refinery, the world's biggest, has been operating at half capacity since early 2018, when Hydro admitted it had made unlicensed emissions of untreated water.Since t...Read More
Barkerville Gold Mines has received bonanza grades from recent drilling at its flagship Cariboo gold project in central Ontario, Canada. The results have also expanded mineralization by 175 metres at Island Mountain.The company has had five drills working at the Island Mountain Shaft zone and Mosquito Creek deposit to test down dip extensions.New results include 19.34 g/t gold over 17.9 meters in...Read More